Vintage advertising, especially tin signs, are being treated like rare folk art by some collectors. Hundreds of each sign were printed or lithographed on a tin backing and sent to stores to be displayed. The images were sometimes just the brand name or logo, but signs made before the 1920s featured detailed pictures of famous people, sites or colorful pictures of a product. The images that intrigued buyers 100 years ago are still popular. They include attractive women, celebrities from movies or sports, patriotic images like the Statue of Liberty or George Washington, cute babies, trains, cars, airplanes and humorous subjects. The old signs that sell best picture these subjects. The fame of the brand also adds to the value of an old sign. Coca-Cola, Cracker Jack, Grape-Nuts and Planters Peanuts are pluses. Probably the most expensive tin sign sold in the past 10 years is the oval 1903 Coca-Cola sign picturing the beautiful Hilda Clark. It auctioned for $82,250 in 1997.

Q: I found an 11 1/2-inch cast-iron Mr. Peanut bank in Portales, N.M. Mr. Peanut is standing up straight with his left arm akimbo and his right holding a walking stick. The paint on it is slightly worn. I can’t find any mark except “Mr. Peanut” on the hatband. Can you tell me what it’s worth?

A: Your bank is not old, but whoever made it wanted it to look that way. It dates from the 1980s and is a fantasy item – meaning that there are no old cast-iron Mr. Peanut banks. Your bank’s shape was based on a 1950s set of plastic Mr. Peanut salt and pepper shakers. Similar cast-iron Mr. Peanut figures were made as doorstops. Both the bank and doorstop come in several sizes, ranging from 6 to 12 inches. The fakes sell for about $10 to $15 each.

Q: My husband and I bought a stoneware jug several years ago. We paid about $200 for it. We wanted it because it was made in Harrisburg, Pa., our hometown. Across the top, incised in blue, it’s marked “Cowden & Son, Harrisburg, Pa.” Above the name, there’s a large mark that looks like a capital B. The jug is hand-painted all around with pink and green flowers. We have learned that most old stoneware was decorated in cobalt blue. Is our jug less valuable than we thought?

Patriot Shoes used this sign showing Col. William Prescott of the Revolutionary War. The sign brought ,013 at a James Julia auction in Maine.

A: John Wallace Cowden founded the Cowden pottery in Harrisburg in 1861. The pottery became famous for its salt-glazed utilitarian stoneware decorated with cobalt blue flowers, birds or figures. The name of the firm changed over the years. It was Cowden & Son from 1888 to 1904. The pink and green flowers on your jug were very likely painted later. But the original cobalt blue design is still under the painted flowers. The jug’s value is not affected by the newer painting – it would just attract a different group of collectors.

Q: My son found an old Coca-Cola bottle when he was digging in East St. Louis in 1970. The bottle, 7 3/4 inches tall, has a smooth finish and is clear with slight purple hues. The front is embossed “Trade Mark, Coca-Cola Bottling Co., East St. Louis, Ill.” All the words are in block letters except Coca-Cola, which is in cursive. What can you tell us?

A: Smooth-finished Coca-Cola bottles were manufactured in East St. Louis between about 1905 and 1916. They are marked like your son’s bottle, but they were made in clear or light-green glass. It’s possible your son’s bottle has discolored slightly from exposure to sunlight. A single East St. Louis Coke bottle can sell for as much as $300.

Q: I have four Windsor chairs that originally belonged to a small college in Alabama. I would like to refinish them if it won’t hurt their value. The only information I can find is a sticker on the bottom of one chair that says “Nichols & Stone Co., Gardner, Mass.”

A: Nichols & Stone is still in business in Gardner, Mass., and says in its ads that it’s the “oldest furniture company still in operation in the United States.” The company traces its history back to 1762, when the Nichols Brothers Chair Manufactory was working in Westminster, Mass. The firm moved to Gardner around 1900 and was renamed Nichols & Stone about 1907. Your chairs were probably not made before the 1930s, and may not even be that old. So you can refinish them without worrying that you will decrease their value.